Every league in the NCAA must have one team in the field and here I am assuming the highest rated team in the PairWise has won their respected conference tournament. So, Robert Morris and Michigan Tech get in, Minnesota, Rensselaer and St. Lawrence are out. Also, ties will be broken by RPI. Denver will be 8, Omaha 9 and Yale will be 10, BU 11.

The field is then broken into four groups or the four regional with the goal of "bracket integrity", i.e 1vs16, 2vs15 and so on. There can not be inter-conference match-ups in the first round and hosts of regionals must be placed in their host city no mater what their ranking is. Holy Cross hosts in Worcester, Union in Albany, Minnesota in St. Paul and Miami in Cincinnati. Teams can also be moved to "boost attendance" (see Providence playing in Providence last year).

There are two inter-conference game in the bracket and it is found in the Albany regional with Lowell vs BC. Yes, there are five Hockey East teams in the field and we could leave it as is, but this in not a hard switch. Lowell goes to Cincinnati, Penn State comes to Albany. Also, Nebraska Omaha and Denver are both NCHC schools. Moving Yale to Worcester and Omaha to St. Paul salves that problem and will help attendance. As for attendance, I don't really know what we can do without totally destroying the bracket integrity. I think the committee will try to get BU in the east and Denver in the west, but this week that might just not be possible.

Last week I touched on the fact that they could switch the two east regionals with BC being the top seed in Worcester and Qpac in Albany. This week there is another possibility that could boost attendance and totally screw a team out of a spot. Minnesota sits in 16th in the PWR and host the St. Paul regional. If you don't think the committee will do everything they possibly can to get the Gophers into the tournament you are lying to yourself. So watch out Penn State, you might get the shaft. I will keep PSU in the bracket this week because they deserve to be there, but it would not surprise me at all if UofM was slotted in their place.

Contrasts St. Cloud, you are the two seed and get to play a road game in the Xcel Center vs the Gophers! Further more, they could even make St. Cloud go to Cincinnati and bring North Dakota to St. Paul all for attendance reasons. North Dakota gets screwed. St. Cloud really gets hosed and nothing even is solved because everyone knows that the buildings will still be 75% empty. Just another reason these games should be played at the higher seed's home barn in a best two out of three format. That way the buildings would (theoretically) be full and we would find out who really is the best team in the country, which is the goal of this whole thing, right?

Anyway, we are still about a month from selection sunday, so there is plenty of time for the field to sort itself out.

BU Hockey Video Highlights

Terrier History during the Blog's History

BU celebrates its 5th National title after an unbelievable comeback and overtime winner by Colby Cohen (25). (Photo by Matt Dresens)

2011

BU celebrates as a team following a 5-4 win over Notre Dame in the 2010 Icebreaker Invitational final in St. Louis. (Photo by Matt Dresens)

2011 and 2012

Chris Connolly was named Captain in both his Junior and Senior seasons at BU. He was the first two year Captain since Jack O'Callahan wore the "C" in both 1978 and '79. (Photo by Matt Dresens)

2009-2012

Kieran Millan played four years as a Terrier, Leading BU to the National Championship in 2009. That same year, he was named National Rookie of the Year. On October 15th, 2011, Millan broke Sean Fields' record of 63 wins as a Terrier with a 4-3 win over Denver. By the end of his career, MIllan amassed 81 victories. (Photo by Matt Dresens)

2012

Terrier players solute those who made the trip down to New York City to witness BU upend Cornell 2-1 in overtime at Madison Square Garden thanks to a Ross Gaudet redirection goal with 2:12 remaining in the extra session. (Photo by Matt Dresens)

2013

Jack Parker waves goodbye for one final time, as BU falls in the 2013 Hockey East Championship game 1-0 to Lowell. This was Parker's 1,484th and final game as the Head Coach at BU. Over 40 seasons, Parker amassed a record of 897-472-115. (Photo by Matt Dresens)

2015

BU falls in the National Championship game 4-3 to Providence. The Terriers beat Yale (3-2 OT), Minnesota Duluth (3-2) and North Dakota (5-3) to reach their first National Title Game in six years. (Photo by Matt Dresens)

2015

Freshman sensation Jack Eichel racked up an NCAA leading 71 points (26 goals, 45 assists) in 40 games on his way to winning the Hobey Baker. Eichel joins Chris Drury and Matt Gilroy as the only other Terriers to win the award. (Photo by Matt Dresens)

2017

Charlie McAvoy (7) and Clayton Keller (19) celebrate after McAvoy scores the game winning, double overtime goal against North Dakota in Fargo in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. (Photo by Matt Dresens)